Development of an Innovative Dual-Coded Multimedia Application to Improve Reading Comprehension of Students With Imagery Deficit

Abstract

This study describes the development of an innovative multimedia application and examines teacher perceptions of its usefulness in assisting students with imagery deficit to visualize the reading comprehension. Students with good reading skills can easily create mental representations from oral or written language, and their sensory system quickly brings parts to whole through imagery. Students with deficiency may have trouble creating images due to their sensory information from imagery is slow and dull, and they often get stuck on parts and pieces. Those unable to image what they read usually cannot understand and remember what they read, which is consistent with the referential connection between the verbal and visual symbolic systems according to the Dual-Coding Theory. This application helps students to develop the capacity to build mental images sentence by sentence. The students engage a touch screen to draw a picture associated with the meaning of each sentence. With the sentences hidden or pictures shuffled, they select and describe each picture in sequence to retell the story. Pictures can be saved to analyze students’ learning outcomes and needs. Teacher perceptions indicate their willingness to integrate this application into reading instruction to help improve reading comprehension of students with imagery deficit.